Fruit-drier



(No Model.)

A. J. HATCH.

FRUIT DRIRE.

Patented Apr. 13, 1886.

UNITED STATES K PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREXV J. HATCH, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

FRUIT-DRIER.

SPECIFICATION foirning part of Letters Patent No. 339,767, dated April 13, 1886.

Serial Fo. 186,574. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW J. HATCH, of the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, have invented an Improvement in Fruit-Driers; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to certain improvements in apparatus employed for drying fruits and other substances. It is more especially applicable to that class in which a long horizontal chamber is employed having doors or openings at intervals upon the side, through which cars with trays are introduced to be dried and removed when completed.

It consists of a suspended swinging or portable chamber or casing having its inner end tted to rest against the side ofthe main chamber, so as to inclose one-of the doors of said chamber, and having a door at its outer end, which may be opened to admit a car and be closed behind it before the doors of the main chamber areopened, a means for making a tightjoint between the edges of this removable chamber and the sides of the main chamber, and a means for transporting it along by the side of the main chamber, so that it may be applied to any ofthe doors ofsaid chamber.

Relerring to the accompanying drawings for a more complete explanation of my invention, Figure lis a'perspective view of my device. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional elevation. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section.

In the construction of fruit-driersI employ a long horizontal drying-chamber having a series of doors upon one side, through which the fruit is introduced in trays, which are preferably supported upon trucks or cars, and rails are laid extending into the chamber at intervals. Upon these many of the cars may be run in, standing side by side, so that their contents may be dried and removed when the work is complete.

In order to prevent great loss by the entrance of a volume of cold air whenever the doors are opened to introduce or remove the cars, I have found it necessary to employ a supplemental chamber, A, which is large enough to receive a car with its load of fruittrays, and is provided with a door or doors,

B, at the outer end. If it were necessary to have as many of these supplemental chambers as there are doors, it would be very troublesome, and I have devised a method by which a single supplemental chamber may be em ployed for all the doors in the main chamber and easily transported from end to end of the apparatus,or to any point Where it is necessary to use it. In order to do this, I have rails C suitably supported above and to one side of the main chamber, and upon these rails a sort of frame or carriage, D, is tted to travel on wheels E. From this carriage the chamber A is suspended by chains or loosely-jointed links F, which extend downward from the carriage to each corner of the chamber A. These chains or links are of such length that when the chamber hangs suspended in its usual position it will be drawn against the sides of the main chamber, and held there with considerable force, as the links or chains do not hang quite perpendicular between the carriage and the chamber. The length of the chainsis also sodetermined that when the inner end of the chamber A rests against the side of the drying chamber the bottom of the chamber A will also rest upon the floor outside of the main drying-chamber.

In order to make a tiglitjoint between the inner ends of the vertical sides and top and the side of the main chamber against which they rest, I fit a strip of rubber or other elas tic packing material, G, upon these edges, so that when the casing rests againstthe side of the main drying-chamber this elastic packing will form a perfectlytightjoint. Similar strips of elastic packing material are fitted along the lower edges of the vertical side pieces of the chamber, and these also rest upon the door, so as to make a tight joint at this point.

The doors in the sides of the main chamber being closed, when it is desired to introduce or remove a car through any particular door, the

supplemental chamber A is brought opposite to that door. If the car is to be introduced, the exterior doors, B, of the supplemental chamber are iirst opened, the car is run into the supplemental chamber, the doors are closed, and the door of the main chamber is then opened to admit the car. After this has again been closed the supplemental chamber may be IOO transferred to any desired point. In order to effect this transfer it is necessary to remove the chamber out of contact with the sides of the main chamber and out of contact with the door. Thisit will be seen can readily be done, because the suspending links or chains moving about the upper points of suspension as centers when the chamber is drawn back cause it to rise at the same time suiiiciently abovel the surface of the floor to allow the carriage D to move along its track or tramway to the desired point.

Various devices may be employed to move this chamber back. In the present case I have shown chains or ropes H attached .to the inner corners of the chamber and extending'to a point where they unite, and asingle rope or chain, I, leads from the point of union over a pulley, J, which is attached kto the linside of the frame D. The chain or rope I, passing o ver this pulley, is led back to a lever, K, having its fulcrum upon one side of the frame of the carriage, and, extending across the other side, it is provided with a handle, L by which it is operated.

M represents a rack upon the side of the carriage, and when it is desired to move the chamber A away from the side of the main chamber, and at the same time raise it from the door, it is only necessary to move the lever K to one side, thus drawing upon the cord I and the bifurcated cord or chain H, which will thus draw the chamber outward and upward, and the lever K may be held atany de sired point by the rack M, so that the carriage, D, with its suspended chamber, can be easily moved along, the rails. By this conexpeditiously from one end tothe other of the apparatus. This chamber also serves as a bleaching-chamber, the car-load of fruit being run in and the doors closed while the frnit'is submitted to the fumes of burning sulphur, each load being bleached previous to being dried.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters tion with a superposed carriage, from which the chamber is suspended, and a track upon Vwhich it travels parallel with the 'main chamber,` substantially as herein described.

3. The carriage supported and ,traveling upon a line of rails yparallel with and to one side of the main drying-chamber, in combination with a supplemental chamber suspended yfrom said carriage by links or chains, and va lever mounted upon vthe car and .having a rope or chain connecting with the suspended chamber, whereby the latter chamber may be drawn p outward and upward simultaneously to clear it from the side of the main chamber and the lfloor, substantiallyas herein described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my l I hand. y.

. ANDREW YJ. HATCH.A Witnesses:

S. H. NoURsE,

LEE D. CRAIG. 

